


Puppy Love

by Chubbidust



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Other, agent 4 is 14 and marie is at least an adult, the agent 4/marie is one sided
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 23:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16775137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chubbidust/pseuds/Chubbidust
Summary: Marie was very neutral about relationships. She didn't love them, and she didn't hate them. Often times she'd be faced with multiple people confessing their love for her as she grew up, and each and every time she'd have to turn them down since she didn't feel the same. She simply just wasn't looking for a relationship and she gladly would turn anyone down in a heartbeat to avoid the needless complications that would spawn like in TV dramas and dumb love triangles.But, years later, when Agent 4 came through the grate that lead to Inkopolis and hearts appeared in his eyes, she had a bit of trouble saying no to that adorable face of his.





	Puppy Love

Marie was a very calm, organized young woman. Even when life took its giant fist and socked her right in the chin, she still stood back up and calmly brushed herself off, easily prepared to take beating after beating and bring herself right back up again completely composed.

However, she wasn’t able to do it without her cousin- and best friend- Callie. Callie was a sweetheart, the epitome of smiles and rainbows and sugar and all that other stuff. She was a bubbly, peppy mess that never let a bad day ruin her week, the sunshine that would always pop in after a rainy day. She was a joy to have in Marie’s life, the green squid sister always looked forward to seeing her every day.

When she suddenly disappeared, Marie had no idea what to do. She had never felt so panicked in her life, it was like a part of her own body got forcibly severed and snatched away in a snap, leaving her cold and lifeless. She was...lost. Very lost. Her life grew incredibly empty and numb just minutes after she discovered her lifelong partner had disappeared with little trace. Marie very quickly fell into a great depression and for the first time in a long while she’d have to fake her smiles and laughter on the scheduled talk shows and other events she was supposed to attend.

However, that light was temporarily replaced by something...interesting.

She had been standing above the grate that secretly led to Tentakeel Outpost at the time, twirling her ‘brella as she quietly gazed over the crowds in Inkopolis Square. Inklings and jellyfish were ambling around, goofing around and conversing animatedly with each other over the most trivial things, clearly having the time of their lives. There were some inklings who would confidently stroll into the battle tower, duffle bags slung over their shoulders- full of their favorite gear and weapons. Others would look around the area once, then twice, and then a dozen. It was clear that those inklings were a little younger and newer to the big city. Marie let a small smile spread on her face as she recalled the moment she and Callie hopped off the train together, ready to start the rest of their lives…

Then, at the back of the Square, right behind Crusty Sean’s food truck, was this little inkling boy with bright yellow tentacles that were slicked back on his head, each of them gently swaying as his brilliant green eyes (the biggest eyes Marie’s ever seen in her life) gazed around the area with a wondrous spark and a determination that was hard to compete with.

When Marie saw him take two steps forward and immediately trip his feet and fall flat on his face and startle everyone around him, she  _ knew _ that he...he was the one. He was the agent she was looking for.

She stared at him from afar, trying to study him and learn about him as much as she could before he noticed her. His dark skin was glossy and shining brightly in the sunlight, his tentacles such a vibrant yellow that the idol could tell immediately that he had only recently gained his humanoid form. He was young. Curious. Seemingly ready to conquer the world.

When he had eventually got up with a gigantic and nasty bruise on his forehead, they both had locked eyes for a fraction of a second, the world seemingly slowing down and going dark for that moment in time. As quickly as it came, though, it left. Once she realized that he saw her, Marie flinched and sharply swooped her umbrella to hide herself before quickly turning into a squid to slip past the grate and bolting down the path in the sewer as fast as she could. She knew that he was going to follow her down here, but she wanted to get there and seem ‘mysterious’ and ‘busy’ before he arrived. He’d be more likely to listen to her instructions if she seemed a little aloof and stern at first.

After she arrived, it was only seconds before she heard the splash of the inkling popping out of the grate right behind her. Damn, she had only taken around 4 steps, too. He was fast. She liked it.

“The octarians…” She muttered under her breath to set the mood, twirling her umbrella yet again before slowly turning herself around, ready to present herself to the agent she’d know for years to come and-

Oh.

Oh no.

Ohhhh  _ nooooo. _

Marie knew that look anywhere, she’d seen it everywhere in high school when everyone’s hormones were starting to kick in. That look when two classmates would accidentally touch hands when picking up a pencil from the ground, that look a jock would give a cheerleader, that look those girls would give at the math teacher…

The future Agent 4 was staring right at her and he... was...  _ infatuated. _

It was obvious that he was trying to hide it, but he was doing an atrocious job at doing so. His eyes were sparkling tenfold as much as before, his cheeks growing a dark rosey red as they both held eye contact over an uncomfortably awkward silence. His mouth was wide open as he gawked at her, exposing a rather unique beak shape with two fangs on the bottom and one on the top.

It was a pretty adorable sight (albeit hilarious too because of the bruise on his forehead), but Marie had standards and morals. He was too young for her and she’d never be comfortable being with him in any way. She would only consider him a friend once she got to know him, but even then just  _ barely.  _ She knew herself, she wouldn’t be able to truly feel for him as a friend and would more approach him as a guardian, even if she was too young to have a kid his age.

That being said, she was a very casual and accepting person. She could put up with his blatant crush on her for a little while and at least let him  _ believe _ he had a chance, but she knew that she would have to let him down sooner or later in case it’d end up festering and building up into something uncontrollable.

Coughing into her fist, Marie eventually cleared her throat and gave the new Agent 4 the same speal about the octarians that her grandpa first gave her years ago. He seemed doubtful at first but once he donned the gear and shot at the first kettle in sight with his new Hero Shot, he was well into the motion and ready to tackle the octarians with no hesitance in sight. Marie admired him, in all honesty. He was much braver than she was when she was fourteen.

Time went by and the weeks came and went, a heavy amount of progress already having been made in only the span of a month. He was much faster than Agent 3 was, a little smarter too. The kid had a large amount of potential for a future in the battlefield, Marie wouldn’t be surprised if she saw him on the top charts in the next few years. He would zip and zoom all over the place, his energy something to envy as he flipped over twintacles and dive bombed into octotroopers. He was a superstar!

Unsettlingly, his crush never seemed to die down. If anything, it had grown more and more over time and it was  _ really  _ starting to worry the idol. Of course, she had tried and tried multiple times to let him down easy and let it all go to rest, but every time she saw those bright and  _ hopeful  _ eyes beaming up at her with that bright smile paired with it... she just couldn’t bring herself to say anything. It happened every. Single.  _ Time. _

The young inkling hadn’t really done much of anything at first in relation to his crush, but eventually things started happening. On his first boss, Marie ended up telling a bunch of puns inspired by the design of the beast and while she thought of them as ironically hilarious, Agent 4 was practically on the floor crying his eyes out from laughing so hard in the middle of fighting the giant toaster oven. It was even worse when she realized that the agent was forcing most of the laughter, doing that same off-sounding laugh that characters in dumb shows would do to keep their love interest happy. Marie usually  _ hated  _ that laugh, but Agent 4’s laugh was shockingly adorable so she upped her pun game to maximum the entire time.

Then, Agent 4 found his first ticket. It was hidden away in a little corner with a giant orange crate boxing it in, clear and strong tape holding it together but eventually giving way once he shot at it enough times. Its mysterious golden film shined in the light, a small logo with a few green arrows right in the center of it. Marie had given him a small explanation of the ticket and assumed that he’d spend it on Crusty Sean right after his time in the canyon…

...But of course, she thought  _ wrong. _

Immediately after he finished the mission, he outstretched his arm and held up the ticket right in front of her, silently directing her to take it. A soft smile was on his face and his eyebrows raised as he stared her in the eyes, hoping that his gift would be something she’d appreciate enormously.

Marie gave an awkward smile and slowly shook her head, using her hand to slowly push the determined agent’s hand grasping the ticket down in a soft rejection.

“I...I can’t,” She murmured uneasily, looking down sadly at the young inkling, “Tickets are extremely rare, and  _ you  _ found it first. You should use it on yourself, Four, you deserve it. It’s a once in a blue moon opportunity.”

Agent 4 frowned and shook his head, holding out the ticket again with his brows furrowed and his mouth trembling ever so slightly. Ugh. Marie knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose and that he was actually just a natural crybaby, but it still was aggravating to see that face whenever she had to reject him for something. She couldn’t resist it.

She sighed, looking off to the side and twirling her umbrella as she pondered on what to say next. Clicking her tongue, she turned her gaze back to Four and gave him a new answer.

“Tell you what. If you can somehow get another ticket of the exact same type, go to Crusty Sean’s and get the food, and come back here with them completely intact...I’ll sit down and eat with you for a little while.” Marie really couldn’t believe she was doing this, “It’ll be an Agent to Agent bonding experience.”

Marie had never seen an inkling face have such a gigantic smile in her entire life.

Agent 4 sprinted away before she could say anything more, charging for the next kettle that he had unlocked in another section but hadn’t navigated through yet. He dove in as soon as he reached it, not taking his time like he usually did and practically bulldozing his way through. He was a  _ monster _ in that level, all the octarians were immediately splatted and the stage was soon completely danger free.

The scary thing was that he didn’t even find a ticket in that level, so he went to the next one. Then the next one. Blasting through them all as he flew through each one, eagerly attempting to search every nook and cranny for the same kind of ticket he had found just hours earlier. Marie admired his dedication, but it was getting a little ridiculous.

She practically had to hold the kid down as she snatched the agent gear off of him, the sun having already set and the stars starting to twinkle in the sky. The little guy had an uncharacteristically bitter look on his face once she had his snow boots and jacket in her hands, his headset wrapped around her own neck. As much as she would’ve liked to defeat the octarians and get her cousin back by midnight, she didn’t want Agent 4 to push himself so hard since he was so young.

“You did a great job today, Agent 4.” She tried to cheer him up with a small compliment as she stashed away his gear into the cabin, but the firm glare at the ground and the watery eyes told her it fell on deaf ears.

“...You should get back home, it’s really late.” She told him, blinking on her phone and checking the time. It was much later than the agent was supposed to stay, didn’t he have school tomorrow? Marie hated school just like every other inkling, but she didn’t want to indirectly cause Four’s grades to drop. She liked the kid, she wanted him to have a good future. Maybe letting him do a ‘little’ overtime was a bad idea.

With a small sniffle, Agent 4 quietly waved his hand goodbye and stepped over to the grate that led to Inkopolis, slipping into it and disappearing in a snap. Normally, he’d have bounced right over to it and would have turned around, eagerly waving goodbye and doing a little twirl before hopping into the grate, so the disappointment was painfully obvious. Agent 4 was upset that he couldn’t find the other ticket, and Marie felt herself feeling bad for him despite not returning any feelings. She actually kinda rooted for him, even though he had no chance at actually getting a real date.

She sighed, spinning her umbrella one last time before closing it to its stem and walking to the grate herself, ready to head back to her two person apartment.

* * *

They found Callie.

Marie always had a suspicion that the octarians had an involvement in her disappearance, but never expected her to be hypnotized and wearing such an odd getup. It looked so out of character for her, clearly someone had given the rather revealing outfit to her in an attempt to truly change her identity. The only thing that had stayed was her iconic shade of pink.

Agent 4 defeated Octavio with little issue, the agent beaming with pride the entire time as he shot at the overgrown octopus with the rainmaker. He moved like a natural and flipped between the ride rails like a pro. Marie truly envied his skill, she wished she could move as nimbly as that.

Time went on and soon Agent 4’s missions went to an end, the only thing he did now was occasional patrolling every once in a while and rechecking areas that he’d visited before to find anything he missed. He’d also try out the other hero weapons Sheldon would lend him, too, but he never could get far with the Octobrush duplicate.

Marie had been conversing with the recently found Callie at the Tentakeel Outpost, happily catching her up with everything she missed. She joyfully twirled her umbrella multiple times in a row as Callie told her a dumb joke that she’d already said five times before. Marie could never get tired of hearing it.

She was in the middle of telling her cousin something weird her show-business agent had done when the Adorable agent had suddenly come zooming in, tripping over himself and rolling along the ground thanks to the momentum in a comical yet horribly painful fashion. He seemed to recover fine from it, though, popping up from the ground without an issue with a bright grin and holding out something to her-

A ticket.

The exact same kind of ticket he had tried to give her earlier.

The two cousins sat in a stunned silence as they stared at the ticket in Agent 4’s hand. It was definitely the real deal, flittering gently as a light breeze blew past them. Its golden features glittered in the sunlight as Four inched himself a little closer to Marie, the young inkling’s eyes carrying an insistent twinkle as he gazed up at her. She could see the first ticket he found grasped in his other hand at his side, proving that this was legitimately a second ticket.

“Um...Wow.” She uttered quietly, unsure on what to do, “You sure...did find it. You found the ticket.”

Marie never expected him to actually find another ticket. She didn’t know what to feel about this.

Callie, however, was enamoured. Her face never had a bigger smile.

“Oh my gosh!!” She squealed while fanning her face with her hands, constantly changing her focus between her cousin and Four, “Is that one of Crusty Sean’s tickets?! Did you find that, Four?! Are you giving it to Marie???!!”

Nodding sporadically, Four eagerly kept holding his arm out to Marie, the determination in his eyes never flickering as he stared up at her.

Swallowing thickly, Marie slowly took her hand from her umbrella and held it out, letting the agent place the ticket on its palm. Then, he gently closed her fist for her with both of his hands, obviously trying to be charming and- quite frankly- failing to make Marie smitten.

“...Thanks.” She muttered, keeping her gaze away from the amused Callie and looking down at the ticket grasped in her hand with wide eyes. He actually did it. He found the ticket. Not only ‘a ticket’ but  _ the exact same type of ticket as the first one. _ How? How?! Tickets were extraordinarily rare! How did he find one?!

How was she going to get out of this one? She never should have let it go on for this long. She’d thought it’d take literal  _ years  _ before the agent would be able to find another one like it, and by then his crush on her would be looong gone. But it wasn’t. She was in trouble.

“Are you guys gonna use those right now??” Callie asked with a soft tilt to her head, kicking her legs idly.

Marie sucked in an embarrassed hiss between her teeth, “...Yeaaaaaah. I told Four a while back that if he found a second ticket, he could go to Inkopolis and bring back the food and we could...sit and eat for a while.”

_ “...Didn’t think it’d actually happen…” _ She added under her breath as she again looked off to the side to avoid making eye contact with either of them.

“Weeeell…” Callie sang before reaching into her pocket and pulling out-

Another ticket.  _ The exact same type of ticket. _

Man, is this just the day of surprises or what?

“I had this laying around and I didn’t know when a good time to use it would be,” She giggled as she flapped it around in the wind, “There were a lot of these laying around in the canyon! When I was hypnotized, I actually somehow remembered that they were important and collected all of them, even though I had no idea why!”

Marie closed her eyes, letting a soft sigh of relief that was barely audible leave her nostrils. Callie caught on to what was happening, which was both a good and very  _ bad  _ sign. Marie had purposefully been keeping the whole ‘crush’ thing on a low profile since it was a rather weird thing to go through, but she had completely forgotten that Four was never subtle with trying to woo her over. And since Callie and her could consider each other practically siblings…

Agent 4 deflated visibly in disappointment at the sight of the ticket in Callie’s hand, but he tried to disguise it by hiding it with a fake smile, stepping over to her with less pep in his step as usual and taking the ticket from her hand. Marie never wanted Four to feel upset over not being able to go on an actual ‘date’ with just her, but she was happy that Callie had stepped in. She knew that if she went on the ‘date’, it’d just be constant awkward silence and the small sound of chewing coming from the both of them as they stuffed their faces in.

As Four walked to the sewer grate to go get their food, he waved them both goodbye and- with large amounts of clear favoritism- locked eyes with Marie and sent her a painfully flirtatious wink.

Then, he was gone.

There was a short pause.

“Shut up.” Marie growled bitterly, not having heard anything but  _ knew  _ that the other Squid Sister was sitting behind her, desperately trying not to laugh.

“Do-Does... Does he r-really-?!” Callie stuttered as she struggled to keep back her laughter, high pitched giggles escaping her lips as she covered her mouth with her hands.

_ “Yes.” _

And with that, she bursted out laughing as hard as possible- high pitched snorts and squeals occasionally popping in and making it much less flattering than it usually was. She held her sides with her arms as she fell onto the ground and rolled around, unable to truly hide just how amused she was at the predicament her cousin got herself into.

“MARIE!!” She wheezed, “H-How?! Wh-Whyy?! You-You…” She couldn’t finish her statement, falling into another fit of chortling as the sight of Agent 4 winking crossed her mind once more.

Marie was forced to sit there and take the embarrassment, silently huffing through her nostrils as a faint blush rose to her cheeks. She deeply regretted not letting Agent 4 down sooner, and now she was paying the price of Callie laughing at her misfortune. She twirled her umbrella and faintly contemplated lightly smacking her cousin with it in an attempt to get her to quiet down, but she knew that the other Squid Sister would just start giggling even harder. 

Eventually, Callie started to wind down from laughing so hard and instead just laid on her back, staring up at the few bunches of clouds high above. A goofy smile was spread on her face and a chuckle would pop out of her mouth here and there as she imagined the silly moments her poor cousin went through when putting up with Four’s crush.

“...Are you done?” Marie eventually asked, sending Callie a grumpy glare paired with a grumpy scowl.

The pink cousin smiled and briefly stretched her arms while still laying on the ground, humming lightly before untensing her body and letting out a soft sigh, “Yeah, I am. What a thing you got yourself into, huh?”

Marie didn’t respond, instead choosing to stare at the manhole cover where Agent 4 had left just minutes before.

Callie’s relaxed smile turned into a small frown, her golden eyes glancing at Marie, “How haven’t you told him yet? You usually let them down as soon as you realize what’s happening.”

Marie sighed, subtly adjusting her grip on her umbrella, “I wanted to humor him. Didn’t really go so well.”

Callie narrowed her eyes and kicked her legs into the air, grunting quietly as she prodded for more answers, “That’s not all it, isn’t it?”

Her cousin sighed yet again and sat down next to her, closing her umbrella and setting it off to the side, “No...It’s his eyes.”

Callie blinked, “His eyes?” She didn’t really understand what Marie meant by that. Agent 4 had big eyes, yeah, but nothing was really worth noting besides that.

Marie shrugged, “His eyes. They’re very big and they have a lot of emotion in them. Whenever I see them looking up at me with all of that hope and joyfulness right as I go to let him down easily once and for all...I give in. Plus, he’s a giant crybaby.”

Callie snorted and looked back up at the sky, spotting a cloud that looked a little like ice cream, “I don’t understand the first reason with the hope and stuff, but the crybaby part I get. You always did better at poetry and stuff and emotion things than I did.”

They sat quietly for a few minutes, letting the soft winds blow their tentacles gently and embracing the sunlight covering their skin. It was a very beautiful day outside, the perfect day to eat some of Crusty Sean’s food…

“Marie?”

“...Yeah?”

“When do you think you’ll be able to tell him?”

“...I don’t know. I have a firm belief that it’s gonna be soon, but I don’t have a specific day in mind. I don’t wanna crush his spirits or his dreams, he really looks up to me.”

“Well...don’t be another Jeremy, Marie. You and I both know how that went.”

Marie chuckled, “Yeah, okay. I got it. I don’t know when I’ll tell him but I’ll do it…

…

“...Eventually.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hc marie as a full blown lesbian who likes people her own age like every Good Adult so she absolutely 100% does not like agent 4 at all romantically here


End file.
